Nicodemus is “born from above!”
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life”(John 5:24).
And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things (Matt. 21:23-27).
After Nicodemus’ encounter with Christ in John 3, Nicodemus defended Jesus against the Sanhedrin two years later in John 7. It was about one year before the Romans executed Jesus on a cross at Golgotha.
Jesus was in Galilee for the Feast of the Jews and the Feast of Booths. There, several members of the Sanhedrin confronted Jesus.
These leaders were troubled by Jesus’ opposition to their religious system and the people’s reactions to Jesus’ teachings and miracles. A few Jews believed He was the Messiah. Others thought He was a great teacher or prophet.
There was not a division among the rulers, however. Most believed Jesus was a false teacher and a danger to their way of life. They wanted Him silenced. So, they ordered the officers of the Temple guards to seize Him and arrest Him.
When the guards later returned empty-handed, the rulers asked the Temple officers, “We sent you to arrest Him, why didn’t you bring Him?”
In John 7:46-49, “The officers answered, ‘Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.’ The Pharisees then answered them, ‘You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.’”
Nicodemus comes to Jesus’ defense and gets rebuked
Then, Nicodemus spoke in defense of Jesus. “Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) He said to them, ‘Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it’” (John 7:50-51).
Nicodemus told the Pharisees, you cannot do this to Jesus. Even the Romans gave due process and a hearing to a prisoner before they condemned and executed him.
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. (Matt. 16:1-4).
Most members of the Pharisees, however, wanted Jesus arrested and executed. They could care less about the due process and law. Nicodemus stepped up to the defense of the law and was trying to protect Jesus.
The leaders were furious with Nicodemus’ response, though he was most respected and the leading expert of the law in Israel. The Pharisees countered. “They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee’” (John 7:52).
They rebuked Nicodemus with sarcasm and mockery because he broke away from the leadership’s position to arrest and have Jesus killed without a trial.
Jesus was a prophet from Nazareth, not Galilee
The Pharisees also did not have the right information and facts about Jesus. He was not a prophet from Galilee, but the city of Nazareth. However, many of Jesus’ disciples were from Galilee.
Nicodemus was legally right, but the religious leaders chose to ignore the man-made rules they had put in place. The Pharisees only backed down because the guards could not seize Jesus. They did fear, however, the reactions of the people if they arrested Jesus who had been healing hundreds. They waited and considered another plan and an opportunity to silence Jesus and have him arrested.
Nicodemus is a witness at Jesus’ crucifixion
The murder of Jesus … they killed an innocent man. “As He is lifted up, see in Him the Son of God, the Savior of the world who died for your sin, embrace Him in faith” (Matt. 27:45-54).
Nicodemus next appeared in the Scriptures at the crucifixion of Jesus. John 19:38-39 says, “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.”
Nicodemus joined his friend, Joseph of Arimathea. And now Nicodemus was bold, and he identified himself with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Joseph of Arimathea brought a linen shroud, and Nicodemus helped him carry Jesus’ body after it came down from the cross. At significant risk to their safety and reputations, they defied the Sanhedrin and Pharisees. They treated Jesus’ crucified body with respect and dignity.
By touching Jesus’ dead body, however, both men were willing to make themselves unclean for seven days as per the Mosaic Law.
We have all sinned and deserve God’s judgment. God, the Father, sent His only Son to satisfy that judgment for those who believe in Him. Jesus, the creator and eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried, and rose from the dead according to the Scriptures (Eph. 1:3-14).
Joseph and Nicodemus cared meticulously for the body of Jesus. They washed the body. Then, they applied costly embalming spices and carefully wrapped Him in the linen strips.
John 19:39-40 shows the honor and care that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus gave Jesus’ body, “He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.”
Nicodemus brought 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes! This was an abundant amount of expensive spices to honor Jesus as the King of kings. This was a noble act. It was a bold act that showed Nicodemus’ respect and high regard for Jesus.
Several historians say 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes would be enough for 100 or more traditional Jewish burials. Sandalwood aloes and myrrh are expensive spices. In today’s market, 75 pounds of aloes and myrrh would cost about $200,000.
By bringing this amount of aloes and myrrh, Nicodemus may have remembered Psalm 16:10, “For you will not leave my spirit in the grave; neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.”
Envisioning Nicodemus handling Jesus’ body with reverence is astonishing. Two years before, he sat with Jesus at night and questioned His authority. Nicodemus was now a believer and a follower.
After applying the spices and linen wrappings to Jesus’ body, Joseph and Nicodemus placed Jesus in Joseph of Arimathea’s unused tomb before the Sabbath started.
The tomb, on a hillside outside of Jerusalem, was in the garden at Golgotha, the place of the skull. Men had prepared this tomb by cutting it out of the rocky hillside. They also cut and shaped a large stone that could be rolled in front of the entrance to seal the tomb. The garden tomb was next to the place where the Roman soldiers had crucified Jesus.
John wrote in Chapter 19:41-42: “Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden, there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”
Jesus has risen. The grave is empty.
The tomb is empty. Jesus has risen! The resurrection of Christ is the greatest event in history (Matt. 28:1-10).
Three days later, the tomb was empty. Jesus had risen from the grave as promised on a Sunday morning.
In John 20:11-17, the Bible says, “But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’ When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, ‘Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”
What happened to Nicodemus?
Nicodemus sought Jesus to find the truth. He learned about God’s grace, and that God’s kingdom is only for people who have been given God’s life. You can’t live in His kingdom unless you are a partaker of the divine nature unless you are a new creation (Jeremiah 24:7).
What happened to Nicodemus between John 3 and John 20? He was “born from above!” God came down and gave him a new heart, a new soul, and washed away his sins. The Holy Spirit regenerated Nicodemus.
Nicodemus found the Way, the Truth and the Light. Jesus knew during His late-night meeting with Nicodemus that he would believe and be transformed by the Holy Spirit into a child of God.
The Son of Man also knew after His crucifixion, Nicodemus would honor Jesus, the Messiah, and painstakingly prepare His body for burial. John 1:12 says, “But as many, as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ saved Nicodemus. He became a member of the kingdom of God. Instead of perishing like many of the other Pharisees and religious leaders, he received eternal life.
Tradition says Nicodemus was the Pharisee who stood up at Jesus’ trial before Pilate and defended Jesus. Tradition also teaches that Peter and John later baptized Nicodemus. Afterward, the Sanhedrin and Pharisees removed him from his position as the leading teacher in Israel. They banished him from Jerusalem. They forced him to live outside the city, while his family lived inside the city.
Some centuries later, a man named Photius referred to an ancient document that records that a mob beat Nicodemus to death in the first century for his devotion to Jesus Christ.
Nicodemus may have lost everything in this world, but he gained everything in the world to come. John 6:37 says, “Him that comes to Me I will not cast away.” Nicodemus came to Jesus, and He did not cast him away. Instead, Jesus revealed that He was the Christ to Nicodemus.
Jesus, the Son of God, came down from heaven, and He was lifted on a cross to bear the penalty for the sins of Nicodemus and all mankind. Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God. He continues to offer righteousness and eternal life to all who will follow Him.
While Jesus offers eternal life to all who will believe, those who reject him will suffer eternal death. To deny Jesus Christ as God’s provision for salvation is to reject God’s love, and to be under divine condemnation, awaiting the day of God’s eternal judgment.
The God of love who sent Jesus Christ to save the world from sin is the God who will send Him a second time to judge the world for sin. Those who have “looked up” to Him for salvation, now “look up,” waiting for His return.
Today, Nicodemus is a model of faith and courage for all Christians. He was a seeker of God and truth. Though he was religious and lost when he first met Jesus, God loved Nicodemus and saved him.
Nicodemus did receive mercy and came to believe in Jesus. He risked his life and reputation by helping Joseph of Arimathea provide Jesus with a royal burial.
Nicodemus first came to Jesus by night for fear of the Jews, but at the end of John’s Gospel, he anointed the body of Jesus during the day for all to see. Nicodemus became a believer and follower of Christ. He was “born from above” by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Go to Chapter 9(E-Book: Born from Above; Introduction; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8